Question
a man walks 10 meters in a direction of 20 degrees North of East, then 20 meters in a direction due west. What is his total displacement vector in component form
Answers
TutorCat
break this problem down to horizontal (x) and vertical (y) components! it'll probably help if you drew the problem out!
horizontal:
(10cos20) meters
20 meters
add the horizontal components together
vertical:
(10sin20) meters
perform Pythagorean theorem-
total displacement: sqrt[(horizontal)^2+(vertical)^2]
remember displacement is a vector so it also has direction! to find direction: tan^-1(vertical/horizontal)
horizontal:
(10cos20) meters
20 meters
add the horizontal components together
vertical:
(10sin20) meters
perform Pythagorean theorem-
total displacement: sqrt[(horizontal)^2+(vertical)^2]
remember displacement is a vector so it also has direction! to find direction: tan^-1(vertical/horizontal)
Anonymous
opps! I forgot to put a negative in front of -20 meters under the horizontal component.